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June 2nd,
2008 - General Says He was not Influenced News article by the Associated Press |
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General Says He was not Influenced By Chelsea J. Carter Associated Press June 2, 2008 Camp Pendleton, Calif. - A
four-star general denied Monday he was influenced by an investigator when he
made the decision to charge a Marine officer with failing to probe the
killings of 24 Iraqi men, women and children. In a rare courtroom
appearance for such a high-ranking officer, Marine Gen. James Mattis took the
stand during a hearing to address a military judge's finding there was
evidence of unlawful command influence in the case of Lt. Col. Jeffrey
Chessani. Prosecutors must show at the
hearing the general was not influenced and therefore his decision did not
affect the direction of the investigation into the killings in the Iraqi city
of Haditha, the charges or the future of the case. The finding by Col. Stephen
Folsom, the military judge, stemmed from Chessani's claim there was a
conflict of interest in the case because Col. John Ewers, a military lawyer
who investigated the November 2005 killings and took Chessani's statement,
became Mattis' top legal adviser and sat in on briefings despite military
policy prohibiting him from offering advice. Mattis testified he never
had a conversation with Ewers about Haditha, although Ewers was present
during a number of legal meetings where Haditha and Chessani were discussed. When asked if he had taken
advice from Ewers about Chessani or any Haditha matter, Mattis said:
"Never. I would not have asked for any." Mattis said he had another
legal adviser from Marine Corps Central Command to help him with the Haditha
cases. Folsom, who presided at
Monday's hearing, asked Mattis if he considered the possible appearance of
improper influence by inviting Ewers to the meetings, which helped Mattis
make decisions about who would and would not be charged in the case. Mattis
said he did not. Mattis was called because he
referred charges against Chessani when he was both commander of the Marine
Corps Forces Central Command and the commander of the 1st Marine
Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton. He has since been promoted and serves
as commander of both NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Transformation and
commander of U.S. Joint Forces. Chessani is the
highest-ranking officer to be tried in the case stemming from the shooting
deaths in the Iraqi town of Haditha on Nov. 19, 2005, after a roadside bomb
killed a Marine and wounded two others. After roadside bombing,
investigators say, Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich and a squad member shot five men
by a car at the scene. Wuterich then allegedly ordered his men into several
houses, where they cleared rooms with grenades and gunfire, killing women and
children. Four enlisted Marines
initially were charged with murder. Charges against three were dropped and
they were reduced for Wuterich. He faces voluntary manslaughter and other
charges. Chessani, who was the
battalion commander, and another Marine officer are charged with failing to
investigate the case; similar counts were dropped against two other officers. Mattis took the stand to
defend his decision and offered a glimpse into the behind-the-scenes military
legal process that led to charges in the case. During the months leading up
to the referral of charges, Mattis told the court he held dozens of legal
meetings where Haditha and other cases were discussed. Present at the
meetings were a host of attorneys and legal advisers, including Ewers, who
had become the staff judge advocate, the leading legal adviser to Mattis in
his role as commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. Prosecutors on Monday also
called Ewers, who testified he told Mattis he could not offer legal advice on
the Haditha cases. "I told him I couldn't
advise him on the Haditha matters. I did not tell him that I shouldn't attend
meetings that dealt with Haditha matters," Ewers said. A decision in the case is
expected before Chessani's court-martial begins on June 16. External link: http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_9452163 General denies
being influenced in war crimes cases By Tony Perry Los Angeles Times June 2, 2008 A four-star general Monday
repeatedly denied being influenced by any outside forces in bringing charges
against Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani resulting from the 2005 killing of 24
Iraqis in Haditha. Under questioning from
Chessani's defense attorney, Gen. James Mattis (pictured) said he was never
contacted by anyone from the Pentagon, Congress, the secretary of the Navy's
office or Marine headquarters about the Haditha case. Mattis said he was unconcerned
that he might be criticized in the press for his handling of the case. "I've already been
drawn and quartered in enough newspaper articles that I was uninterested in
that sort of thing," he said at a motions hearing for Chessani. Chessani, who was the
battalion commander, is charged with dereliction of duty for not ordering a
more thorough examination after the Nov. 19, 2005, killings. The military
started an investigation only after an expose in Time magazine. Defense lawyers want the
case dropped because of "undue command influence" - arguing, in
effect, that Mattis was pressured into bringing charges to mollify critics of
the Iraq war in Congress and the press. Col. Steven Folsom, the
trial judge, delayed making a decision until later in the week. Chessani's
trial is set to begin June 16 at Camp Pendleton. He is the highest-ranking
Marine to face charges of misconduct in Iraq or Afghanistan. Under questioning from
defense attorney Robert Muise, Mattis also denied there was anything improper
about permitting a Marine lawyer involved in the initial investigation into
the Haditha killings to attend meetings in his office where the case was
discussed before the preliminary hearing. The lawyer, Col. John Ewers,
attended the meetings because he was involved in other cases and never spoke
about the Haditha case, Mattis testified. Ewers, following Mattis on the
stand, said the same thing. Mattis was commanding
general of the Marine Forces Central Command when charges were brought in
late 2006 against Chessani and seven other Marines. He is now commander of a
joint command and also NATO supreme allied commander for transformation. External link: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2008/06/iraq-general-de.html |